Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis took responsibility for submitting a series of plagiarized articles, but he refused to address contradictions about how it happened and who wrote the copied pieces.

But a Ritter administration morale booster uncovered by CALL7 investigators at 7NEWS seems redundant to me, and bad for taxpayers.

The 7NEWS report is a serious matter, so please don’t overlook the fact as I make my glib little joke.

Reporter John Ferrugia found that after Gov. Ritter last year ordered a freeze on non-essential contracted services to save money during the recession his administration approved $484 million in contracts that certainly seem like they could have waited for better years.

“Despite the freeze, Ritter’s budget office and his Chief of Staff Jim Carpenter approved several questionable projects, including tens of thousands for new cubicles at the state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, an e-mail marketing program at the parks department and a consultant to set up paperless board meeting minutes at the Department of Regulatory Agencies,” 7NEWS reports.

The mention of the cubicles got me. According to the report, the state spent $75,000 for new cublicles at HCPF.

When Ferrugia asked Carpenter if cubicles that looked identical to the ones employees already had at HCPF were vital in these hard times, Carpenter said they were, because they were good for morale.

It reminded me of a letter last year from the governor that – in order to boost morale – encouraged all state employees to make every day a casual Friday. He got the idea from HCPF Executive Director Joan Henneberry.

Ritter, quoting Henneberry, wrote: “[A]s as long as we’re in a recession, we’ve decided to boost morale by offering casual dress environment for all employees every day. This dress-down policy largely spares our employees the cost of dry cleaning, purchasing new suits and seasonal clothing. The response to this has been incredible. Employees are happy and motivated. This has bolstered our overall team morale during a time when we are working harder than ever.”

I recently argued that state government had to go to extremes in hard economic times to provide essential services. The point was that I was willing to overlook the rampant raids of state cash funds to keep essential services afloat.

So it sure is hurting morale in my cubical to read that nearly $500 million could have been saved by skipping cosmetic changes in state government last year.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.